The standard method of redistributing fluids in multiple tubes is to have a large metallic collector on which are smaller threaded manifolds or nozzles, to which the multiple tubes can be connected. These collectors are made by casting and machining or by welding.
The tube connections on these collectors are standard and in general well known. However they provide no flexibility concerning the number of connections.
Their cost is considerable and connection costs are high because they require very expensive highly qualified plumbing labour.
With the recent development of plastic tubes, resistant to pressure and heat, considerable efforts have been made to carry out more flexible, practical modular connections with, as well, the integration in the modules of new "instantaneous" tube connections which require neither tightening nor screwing but can be connected simply by pushing the tube into a special joint.
The use of very high-quality moulded plastic enables sophisticated collectors to be moulded at low cost.
The inventor already possesses numerous patents in this field: French Pat. No. 2.528.531, French Pat. No. 2.067.506, German and French 2431680 and 7324472. The following patents are also known: European 0052717 - International WO 82/01205 - U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,103,936 and 3,516,442 - 4,247,133 - German 2.229.685.
Even if these patents have advanced the state of the art they still have important financial drawbacks concerning cost and use. While metallic collectors were not modular enough and involved costly tube connection, the above patents are too modular: their assembly in numerous modules is therefore time-consuming and expensive. A happy medium has now been found and this invention concerns a highly-modular system, yet one which because of its design and assembly technique is not expensive.
The available systems are not homogeneous in design. They offer a type of assembly between modules, using dovetails, sliders, threaded rods for holding, or bayonets. But the same assemblies are never used at the level of tube connection - the tubes are assembled either in standard screwed fashion or by instantaneous connections integrated with the module. Only French Pat. No. 1.522.553 proposes a dovetail slider for connecting the only possible output tube. But this system, intended for sprinkling, is completely heterogeneous, the 3 outputs being in different systems.
The device described below, in accordance with the invention, has evolved out of the inventor's numerous inventions in this field, in particular improvements and perfection to remove the inconveniences of the inventor's French Pat. No. 2.528.531, and offer these advantages at much lower cost than before.